Once upon a
time... a town mouse, on a trip to the
country, met a country mouse. They spent the day together and became
friends. The country mouse took his new friend into the meadows and
vegetable gardens, making him sample allthe
good things of the land.

Never
having seen the beauties of the countryside,
the town mouse was thrilled, though the country mouse's plain food
wasn'tnearly
as fine as his own usual meals. To thank his friend for the lovely
outing,he
invited the country mouse to visit him in the town. And when the
country mouse saw the pantry at his friend's house, full of hams,
cheese, oil, flour, honey, jam and stacks of other goodies, he stood
speechless with surprise.

"I've never
seen anything like it! Are all those
wonderful things for eating?""Of
course!" came the reply. "You're my guest, so tuck in!"They
began to feast, while the country mouse tried not to stuff himself. He
wanted to taste everything before finding his tummy full.

"You're the
luckiest mouse I've ever met!" said
the country mouse to his town brother. The town mouse was listening
with delight to his friend's praise, when suddenly, the sound of heavy
footsteps interrupted their feast.

"Run for
it!" whispered the town mouse to his
friend.

They were
just in time: for within an inch of them
stood the lady of the house's large foot. Luckily, the lady went away
and the two mice returned to enjoy their meal, so rudely interrupted.

"It's all
right! Come on!" said the town
mouse."Don't worry. She's gone. Now for the honey! It's delicious! Have
you ever tasted it?""Yes,
once, a long time ago," the country mouse lied, trying to sound casual.
But when he tasted it, he exclaimed: "Scrumptious! By the King of Mice!
I've never eaten anything so lovely in all my life!"

Suddenly
there came the sound of footsteps, this
time thumping heavily. The two mice fled. The man of the house had come
to fetchsome
bottles, and when he saw the spilt honey, he groaned: "Those ghastly
mice again! I thought I've got rid of them. I'll send thecat!"
And trembling with terror, the mice hid away.

This time
it was not only the sudden visit that
had given them a fright, it was the man's awful words. The mice were so
scared, theyheld
their breath, making no sound. Then, since all remained quiet, they
began to feel braver, and picked up enough courage to leavetheir
hidey-hole.

"We can
come out now! There's nobody here!" the
town mouse whispered.

Suddenly,
the pantry door creaked, and the two
luckless mice froze in fear. Out of the dim light glowed a pair of
horrid yellow eyes.A
large cat was staring round the room in search of its prey. The country
mouse and the town mouse tiptoed silently back to theirhidey-hole.
They wished their pounding hearts would stop beating, for fear of the
cat hearing the noise they made. But, as luckwould
have it, the cat discovered a juicy sausage.

Forgetting
why his master had sent him into the
pantry, he stopped to eat it. Nolonger
hungry, after that, the cat decided that he might as well leave
mouse-hunting for another day. Off he padded, to have fortywinks
elsewhere.

Now, as
soon as the country mouse realized that
all danger was past, he did not lose a second. He hastily shook hands
with hisfriend,
saying: "Thanks so much for everything! But I must rush off now! I
can't stand all these shocks! I'd far rather sit down to ameal
of a few acorns in peace, in the country, than face a great spread of
delicious food, surrounded by dangers on all sides andwith
my heart in my mouth!"